What happens when a society changes both their written language and their alphabet? This is what Alessandro Palumbo, Associate Professor in Medieval Studies, aims to explore in a new project funded by the European Research Council (ERC).
“Winning an ERC Starting Grant means a lot. It means that I, along with skilled colleagues, will be able to delve into key linguistic and cultural changes in Scandinavia’s written culture during the Middle Ages,” says Palumbo.
The project “EpiCentres: Epigraphic centres of medieval Scandinavia: Latinization and re-vernacularization of the linguistic landscape 1050–1550” will study where, when, and why Latin and the Latin alphabet spread in inscriptions in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages.
“I congratulate Alessandro Palumbo on a significant ERC project that will contribute to enhancing our understanding of language and cultural development in Northern Europe,” says Ada Nissen, Dean of Research at the Faculty of Humanities.
She believes the project demonstrates the importance of the humanities in illuminating both language development and historical identity.
The encounter between runes and Latin letters
When the Latin written tradition appeared in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, it encountered a 900-year-old written tradition with inscriptions in runes in local vernacular languages. The project will explore how the spread of Latin and the Latin alphabet relates to the native rune script and its decline.
“We will also gain more insight into where, when, and why the local vernacular language started to be used again in inscriptions, but with Latin letters,” says Alessandro Palumbo.
He looks forward to building a team of researchers for the project.
“We will be able to consolidate and strengthen the Scandinavian research community around inscriptions in the Latin alphabet, which is a rich and important historical source that has been largely overlooked.”
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